Thai rice exporters have lost ground to foreign rivals over the past few months with higher domestic prices and stiff global competition taking their toll on the volume of shipments.

''Exporters are very worried about the drop in rice shipments with concerns growing of further declines,'' said Vichai Sriprasert, the president of the Rice Exporters Association.

In October, Thai rice exports totalled 1.09 million tonnes. They fell to 962,000 tonnes in November, 807,000 in December, 762,000 in January and 558,000 tonnes in February before improving slightly in March to 592,000 tonnes. They declined again in April to 587,000 tonnes.

Mr Vichai noted that Thai rice exports totalled 2.53 million tonnes in the first four months of this year, down 12% from the same period last year, while at the same time shipments from India, Pakistan and the United States rose appreciably.

Rice exports from India shot up 60% to 1.53 million tonnes while those from Pakistan gained 56% to 874,00 tonnes and shipments from the US rose 9.1% to 1.2 million tonnes in the same time period.

Mr Vichai said Vietnam shared a similar fate to Thailand with rice exports falling 12% to 1.58 million tonnes.

Pramote Vanichanont, an adviser to the Thai Rice Mills Association, said it was currently a buyers' market, with prices of US$280-290 per tonne for white rice, almost unchanged from last year despite lower global rice stocks.